Tackling Matchfixing: New speakers, Early Bird registration closes Monday 19 February
February 16 – The Tackling Matchfixing conference, March 9/10 in Chelsea, London, has added three new speakers to its speaker line-up.
Match-fixing
Spanish prosecutors reopen Levante vs Zaragoza matchfixing case demanding jail terms
By Andrew Warshaw
February 15 – Several years after the incident first hit the headlines, Spanish prosecutors have dramatically reopened a case against 41 individuals, including 36 players, over alleged matchfixing relating to a top-flight survival decider between Levante and Real Zaragoza.
Bulgaria launches league-wide educational programme to tackle matchfixing
February 15 – The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) which has long been battling criminal matchfixing gangs operating within its leagues, has unveiled a new education strategy that will see 32 workshops per season covering referees, BFU officials and all players in the country’s top two tiers.
Tackling Matchfixing: Early Bird closing, discount rate ends Monday 19 Feb
February 14 – The Early Bird conference registration rate for the Tackling Matchfixing conference, March 9/10, at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel, London, closes Monday 19 February.
Tackling Matchfixing: Should we being doing more? Are you kidding me, says de Medeiros
February 12 – Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros does not mince his worlds when it comes to issues of sports integrity. More needs to be done, it needs to be done now and these are non-negotiable conditions. For de Medeiros, tackling matchfixing is very firmly in the middle of that mix of integrity issues globally that have to be addressed.
Maltese court overturns not-guilty verdict in U21 match-fixing case
February 8 – Two former members of the Under-21 Maltese national team have been declared guilty of match-fixing after a Maltese court of appeal overturned the original judgment that had cleared them.
LaLiga confirm integrity director Lorenzo Mena to attend Tackling Matchfixing conference
February 8 – LaLiga’s Integrity and Security director Alfredo Lorenzo Mena has confirmed he will be speaking at the Tackling Matchfixing conference in London, March 9-10. He will join a panel examining what Europe’s biggest leagues are doing to combat and defend themselves against match fixers.
Malaysia cracks down on matchfixing with government promising court action
February 6 – Crime-busting police forces in Malaysia have been directed to flush out matchfixing among players, coaches and the management of league teams.
ESSA reports 266 suspicious betting cases in 2017, 45 in football
February 2 – The ESSA, the 26-member bookmaker betting integrity group, has announced 266 cases of suspicious betting being reported to relevant authorities in 2017, with 114 of them in the last quarter. Football made up 45 of the reported alerts.
Greek football tragedy: game-changing referees, match-fixing rampant, FIFA and UEFA smile on
By Paul Nicholson
January 30 – Greek football is in chaos and the crisis in the top professional tiers is not showing any signs of improvement. This is despite a FIFA normalisation committee led by Portuguese Vitor Melo Pereira and the parachuting in last week of UEFA director of national associations Zoran Laković. Rather than finding solutions, his trip in fact just rubber stamped the ‘new’ status quo.
Indian I-League leaders Minerva Punjab report matchfixers attempts on players
January 29 – One of India’s biggest clubs has written to their governing body claiming two of their players have been approached via social media to fix matches.
Laila Mintas: Lamptey fails to beat FIFAs defence – a deeper dive on bet monitoring
FIFA released the full transcript of the Court of Arbitration for Sport Panel’s decision and reasoning this week, outlining why the Panel dismissed referee Mr Joseph Lamptey’s appeal against the decision by the Appeal Committee of FIFA dated 27 April 2017 (CAS 2017/A/5173 Joseph Odartei Lamptey or “Lamptey” from here on in).
CAS decision on Lamptey is a landmark for FIFA in battle against match-fixing
By Paul Nicholson
January 15 –Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey, banned for life by FIFA for match-fixing, has had his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) turned down. The CAS ruling and their published reasoning mark a significant landmark for FIFA and football’s federations in their battle against match-fixing and their ability to enforce judgements.
CAF takes control of ref payments in battle against match-fixing
January 12 – Referees in African international matches are to be paid directly by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) instead of national associations in the wake of Ghanaian official Joseph Lamptey’s (pictured) life ban for match-fixing.
UEFA bans six Maltese U21 players for match-fixing offences
By Andrew Warshaw
January 10 – A year after a court in Malta described match-fixing as “a cancer at the heart of football,” UEFA has banned six Maltese under-21 football players for offences in relation to two European qualifying matches.